Gangqi Wang

My work focused on the role of the endothelial glycocalyx (EG) in diabetic nephropathy (DN). A short summary of my work performed under the DKF supported GLYCOREN consortium is displayed. I have shown that the glomerular EG is damaged in DN. Loss of the glomerular EG component, hyaluronan, results in albuminuria and vascular destabilisation. Glomerular loss of hyaluronan has a profound effect on endothelial stability, and similar effects were observed in tumor vessels of metastatic melanomas (unpublished data) and in muscular tissue of diabetic patients with critical limb ischemia4. Endothelial hyaluronan biosynthesis is critically determined by the endothelial metabolic state which I determined using bulk cell metabolomics and fluxomics analysis, I showed that glycolysis is a determining factor of endothelial function. We have also used metabolomics on iPSC-derived endothelial cells showing that changes in metabolic pathways are related to endothelial maturation and function. To further our knowledge on metabolic pathways in the kidney in health and disease I am currently in the process of developing an innovative technology platform that will allow high resolution single cell metabolomics. With this technology a metabolomics atlas of the developing kidney can be generated that will form the foundation to study the role of metabolomics in disease and serve as a platform to identify compounds that could minimize injury and promote repair.